I love to cook, and have a lot of fun seeing just how low calorie I can make a meal, without sacrificing taste. I thought it might be fun to make a challenge out it! What can you create for a meal under 500 calories? How many courses can you squeeze in?

Take the filet and pop in oven..while that cooking take the wild rice and stir fry in 1 tbsp of olive oil,, 120 calories, add onions, peppers, garlic cloves, any low calorie veggies you have kicking around. (keep to under 30 calories)
When fish is done,,so is the rice.
Finish meal with sugar free jelly for 7 calories per serving!
total 497 calories!

Spagetti squash

take one spagetti squash and microwave,,piercing squash lots) 100 calories per cup
when tender take out and let cool down. Careful its very hot inside!!!

Take one tin of diced tomatoes, with herbs (230 calories per cup)
Dump into a saute pan,,,and add some crushed garlic, onions, peppers (27 calories per pepper), oregano, basil.
Let meld together in pan to reduce and flavours mingle.

Here is one of my favorite meals. I like to eat my dinner leisurely- soup, then relax until I am hungry again, then the salad, and maybe another hour later the main course. I usually eat two servings of the soup and salad, so I say this one is under 500, the way I eat it.

Put oil in pan, dice and saute garlic and onion. Sprinkle desired amt of red pepper flakes. Add diced chayote, and half of cilantro. Cover with 2 cups of chicken or veggie broth, and simmer until soft. Use immersion blender or upright, then salt and pepper to taste.

warm a large fry pan, preferably non stick. Put the tortillas in, and warm the chicken in a pan or microwave. Flip tortillas, put ½ oz cheese on each, then add hot chicken. Put on plate, and cut like pizza (6-8 slices) Add a fresh salsa and jalapeno on top. Cilantro, scallion, or chive if desired.

Cook chicken breast in skillet with non stick cooking spray. Let cool, then shred with fork (I pre-cook and freeze the shredded meat, so on a work day I can make this meal in under half an hour). Set aside.

Cut tortillas in half. Place a thin layer of salsa in the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch rectangular cake pan to prevent sticking. Layer half of tortilla shells, chicken, beans, half the salsa and 1 cup cheese, then the other half of the tortillas. Dress the top with remaining half of salsa and cup of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

This is a family size recipe, makes 8 servings. Each serving has 460 calories, and tastes just as good as a Mexican restaurant enchilada. Goes together like a lasagna instead of rolling the individual tortillas, so much quicker to make. Got the idea from a friend who makes her stuffed cabbage by layering the cabbage, sauce, and filling like lasagna to save time in the kitchen.

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If I keep starting over, eventually it will stick, right?

I found these recipes in my delish.com magazine and I tried them over the weekend. They were delicious! We have the main dish, the side dish and a dessert and they total up to 387 calories for the entire meal!

1. In 12-inch skillet, heat oil on high until hot. On waxed paper, evenly season steaks, on both sides, with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper.
2. Add steaks to skillet and cook 10 minutes for medium-rare or until desired doneness, turning over once. Transfer steaks to dinner plates; top with Roquefort.

1. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat margarine on medium-high until melted. Add onions and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until browned. Add peas, water, salt, and ground black pepper. Cover and cook 3 to 4 minutes longer or until onions and peas are tender. Stir in tarragon and spoon into serving bowl.

Genny does it say how many servings this makes.?? I thought beef was high in calories but 4 oz of filet mignon for 200 calories is amazing...if its two servings

Actually beef can be very lean. My parents raise beef cattle, and have found that grass and hay raised beef when butchered under 2-3 years old are so lean you have to use cooking spray to fry hamburger - seriously. Many of the commercial beef growers use growth hormones and feed their cows plenty of corn, which speeds up the growth rate and makes the final product have a higher fat content. If you love beef and would like to eat it as often as possible I would recommend that you buy it directly from a farm and have it custom packaged at a butcher shop. When I call in cutting orders to the butcher shop, I always ask for the meat to be 91% lean or higher. The hamburger at our house is bright red, because basically it's very lean ground steak. Don't worry if you want an order smaller than a whole cow, you can order a 1/4 cow, which is 60-200 pounds of meat depending on the size of the animal.

At first I thought I would like to come up with some fantastic thing to enter here, and then I thought that would be completely ridiculous when the dinner I prepared last night was a pretty decent answer without a lot of extra thinking involved.

Whoever coined the phrase "easy as pie" was an idiot, because it really doesn't get any easier than soup.

Spray the bottom of a dutch oven or stock pot with cooking spray and saute chicken and onion until juices and onion are both clear (5 minutes). Then add in water, vegetables and spices and bring to a gentle boil, let simmer 10-20 minutes until potatoes are fork tender. If you need a lower carb version substitute corn and potatoes with cauliflower and green beans (or whatever veggies you want). This is also a great crock pot concoction. The whole pot runs about 1600-1700 calories and it serves 8, so like 200-225 calories for a big fat stick to your ribs dish full. Yum!!! It's also mighty good warmed up for lunch the next day.

Serve with:
A whole grain dunker (roll or slice of bread) 120 calories
A small side salad with spinach greens, tomato and balsamic vinegar 60-70 calories

In a sauce pan bring water and lemon (or lime) juice to a boil, add in finely sliced apples first. In a small dish mix together cinnamon and sugar, then add to apple and water mixture and bring to a boil. After finely sliced apples begin to break down and fall apart (5-10 minutes), add in larger chunks. Simmer for 10-20 minutes until larger chunks are softened and the sauce is thickened, serve warm or cold. Serves 8. 100 calories per serving.